Cultural interaction and the emergence of hybrids in the material culture of hellenistic Mesopotamia: An interpretation of terracotta figurines, ceramic ware and seal impressions. (original) (raw)
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2018_Refiguring the Body_From Terracotta Figurines to Plaques in Early Second Millennium Mesopotamia
Luciani, M. (ed), Images in Context: Agency, Audiences & Perception. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Volume 1, 2018
The late third and early second millennium BCE saw the rise of the terracotta plaque production and the (temporary) end of figurines in southern Mesopotamia. This media-based transformation is usually considered a mere technological advance but we have to acknowledge that it coincides with new ways of visualizing the human form. I argue that profound differences in the perception and conceptualization of images lie at the heart of these changes. During this process depictions of male/female bodies moved from visual references to persons into generic representations of symbolic concepts. Keywords: terracotta figurines, terracotta plaques, gender, body visualization, artistic genre change, Ur III, Isin-Larsa, Old Babylonian.
n G. Papantoniou, D. Michaelides, M. Dikomitou-Eliadou (eds.), Hellenistic and Roman Terracottas (Monumenta Graeca et Romana, vol. 23), Leiden, 2019
Figurines from Seleucia highlight close contacts with terracottas coming from the eastern Mediterranean area, showing on the other hand an equally intense bond with Mesopotamian production. This paper aims to illustrate how the encounter and exchange between Greek and local culture led to the creation of a new iconographic and formal language, resulting in a dramatic renewal of the old Mesopotamian repertoire and in a deep reelaboration of western subjects.
WNC2024 , 2024
The northern Mesopotamian Early Neolithic Period (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A) serves as a basis for the study of symbolic and ritual iconography, as well as important information for the study art in this region. However, the interpretation of these finds is mostly carried out on the concepts of belief or ritual with a symbolic emphasis, however very little research has been carried out on the iconographic features, object form, and the regional distribution of these objects. After recent archaeological studies in northern Mesopotamia (Northern Iraq, North Syria and the Southeastern Anatolia Region), the number of known settlements that were inhabited in the earliest stages of the Aceramic Neolithic period is increasing, and new data is being revealed on painted art in this region. Although these findings are interpreted mostly in a symbolic and socio-cultural context, it is known that the concept of iconography in the region varies within itself. In this context, it is important to examine the regional distribution of the archaeological finds, which are important for the study of Early Neolithic art in northern Mesopotamia, the regional distribution rather than the symbolic interpretations, and the introduction of regional similarities and differences.
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The Archaeology of Hybrid Material Culture, 2013
In this chapter, I investigate the socio-cultural meanings of hybrid practices in ritual-architectural spaces from a northern Mesopotamian Late Chalcolithic Period archaeological site. During the fourth millennium B.C. northern Mesopotamian sites reveal widespread distribution of southern Uruk-style material cultural elements along with indigenous styles. Recent archaeological research on the problem has suggested that interregional interactions in the form of exchange relationships, movement of people and establishment of trade colonies resulted in the blending of multiple cultural practices. Through architectural analysis, I particularly investigate the active role of individuals and groups in the creation of hybrid material culture. Diachronic and comparative analysis of architectural organization and use of space traces the transfer and re-contextualization of different traditions, and detects hybrid and non-hybrid practices that communicate both canonical (common architectural conventions that reflect larger socio-cosmic principles) and indexical messages (the particular status of inhabitants). An eclectic concept of hybridity is applied in this study that takes theoretical elements from the postcolonial concept of hybridity, and the concepts of syncretism and cultural integration.
Graeco-Phoenician Figurines in Phoenicia. A Medley of Imports, Derivatives, Imitations, and Hybrids
in Bonnet, C., Galoppin, T., Guillon, E., Luaces, M., Lätzer-Lasar, A., Lebreton, S., Porzia, F., Rüpke, J. and Urciuoli, E. (eds.), Naming and Mapping the Gods in the Ancient Mediterranean: Spaces, Mobilities, Imaginaries, De Gruyter, Berlin-Boston, pp.473-492, 2022
The discovery of some favissae, or what is presumed as such, from the Persian period along the Levantine coast containing mixed coroplastic materials, has generated a long-lasting debate regarding the presence of “eastern” and “western” style terracottas. This debate went so far as to hypothesize both the possible presence of the earliest Greek temples in Phoenicia and the evidence of syncretism between the Greek and Phoenician worlds. To date, this raises the question whether we can really say that these temples ever existed. Was there already an active syncretism at a local level during the Persian period? And what exactly is meant by “western” style terracottas? This paper aims to answer these questions through the analysis of part of the Graeco-Phoenician coroplastic and its local development. Firstly, two import phases are distinguished based on chronological issues and the presumed origin of production centres in Greece. The interpretation of the terracottas in Greek contexts is then used to explain the phenomenon of imports into the Levant. Simultaneously, the degree of "foreignness" of this production is disclosed with the identification of derivative, imitation, and hybrid figurines. Imitations and hybrids, in particular, serve to understand how these figurines may have been perceived locally. They both demonstrate a process of acculturation in which Greek and Phoenician elements are fused and/or alternated. Ultimately, an interpretative hint is provided regarding the relationship between cultic objects, the worshippers behind them, and the way the latter interacted with the divine. Indeed, the plurality of coroplastic specimens and their supposed various geographical origins could reflect a mixed cultural composition of the attendants in Levantine temples.